SC asked to act against Kathua lawyers for obstructing justice

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday was urged to take suo motu cognisance of the conduct of lawyers who created ruckus and tried to obstruct the filing of a charge-sheet in the Kathua rape and murder case of an eight-year-old minor.

As lawyer P.V. Dinesh urged the bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipak Misra to take judicial notice of the conduct of the Kathua bar in particular and Jammu Bar in general, the court asked him to place on record the material relating to the incident.

The petitioner urged the court to direct the state Bar Council and the Bar Council of India to take action against the lawyers involved in creating a ruckus in the court premises.

Despite resistance by some lawyers, the charge-sheet was filed in the rape case before the Jammu court.

The eight-year-old girl's body was recovered from Rassana forest in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses in the forest area.

She was held captive inside a temple, and was sedated before being repeatedly raped and murdered.